Month: April 2014

Released as the second single from MDNA following Madonna’s arguably worst ever lead single, Give Me All Your Luvin’, it was destined to flop from the beginning.

That’s a travesty, because Girl Gone Wild is Madonna to down to a tee. It bares all the hallmarks of a Madge classic, and yet many of her fans shun it and try to pretend it doesn’t exist, like an ugly baby.

The moment she begins to recite the prayer at the beginning, the track screams early ’90s Madonna. Lyrically, it’s riddled with cliches, but when the delivery is this good, that almost becomes a non-issue.

Musically, it’s one of her finest moments since Confessions of a Dancefloor – but for those that feel it lacks a little, try the Justin Cognito Remix.

Make no mistake though, this is an absolute smash in its original form. I defy even the song’s biggest critic to hear Girl Gone Wild in a club after several gins, and not feel the need to throw caution (and dignity) to the wind and start dancing. As La Ciccone so eloquently puts it in the song, “it must be the Tanqueray”.

This isn’t a song to sit at home and listen to with a cuppa and a fig roll – it isn’t the effortlessly brilliant midtempo jam Don’t Tell Me, or the lyrical genius of Drowned World/Subsitute for Love. This is your basic, balls-to-the-wall night out anthem, and why does that have to be something that’s considered “below” Madonna?

OK, so the moment we get a Madonna single featuring Pitbull we might be in trouble, but until then the critics of Girl Gone Wild really need to take a seat and let the light in.

When Girl Gone Wild was released back in 2012, much of the criticism aimed at the track focused on the fact Madonna is no longer a girl, but a grown-ass woman. Pushing the misogyny aside, if you place the track in the context of her career, the sometimes clichéd lyrics attain an entirely new meaning.

Madonna is a good Catholic girl who decided she no longer wanted to play by anyone’s rules but her own – it’s how she managed to become the most recognisable musical icon in the world. If anyone is entitled to sing lyrics like these, it’s her.

She’s not Britney, who claims she’s a “slave” for some hot young stud, when she actually wants her spend her days on the beach with her kids and a frappucino; or Christina, who sings about sweating till her clothes come off, when the only sweating she does is in the queue at KFC. These were both merely eras for those popstars: a way to sell records before moving onto to a new persona.

Of course, Madonna has done that. She’s the Queen of Reinvention, after all. But my point is, behind the facade, it’s abundantly clear that she is, and will always be, the original girl gone wild.

Backstory: Madonna was asked to write down the first word that came to mind in a game of word association at BuzzFeed. After writing down “gay” for Vladimir Putin, Madonna proceeded to write down “gay” for the leafy green vegetable, kale.

Then, the internet reacted accordingly…by losing its f*#%ing mind.

The outrage.
Now, in an exclusive interview, we got Kale to stop by the BuzzFeed offices to speak up.

With its signature dark sunglasses and leafy fronds, Kale can at first appear aloof, but I’ll let you know, Kale is actually very down-to-earth and grounded.

After a quick handshake and some small talk about what Chard is up to, the interview began.
Right away, Kale wanted to clear the air.

“Yep, I’m gay.”

MADONNA:

Now, Kale’s brave statement is a cover story that the entire world can embrace.

Mert Alas, one half of the fashion photography pair Mert + Marcus and a frequent Madonna collaborator, caused quite the online kerfuffle by posting a photo of Madge on Instagram on Monday (Apr. 21) with a caption in which he claimed to be “listening to the new album.”

Could the follow-up to 2012′s “MDNA” be upon us? A rep for Madonna has declined a request for comment, but sources tell Billboard that the pop superstar’s next full-length is not yet completed, and that she is still writing and recording new music for the set, presumably in Los Angeles.

Could the follow-up to 2012’s “MDNA” be upon us? A rep for Madonna has declined a request for comment, but sources tell Billboard that the pop superstar’s next full-length is not yet completed, and that she is still writing and recording new music for the set, presumably in Los Angeles.

Last month, Madonna told her Instagram followers that she was “on my way to the studio to work with Avicii,” and hit the studio earlier this month to work with Natalia Kills and Martin Kierszenbaum. Toby Gad, S1 and MoZella are also attached to the new project.

“MDNA” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart upon its March 2012 release. Mert + Marcus directed the music video for the album’s second single, “Girl Gone Wild,” and shot the MDNA tour book for Madge.

Madonna’s discography is getting larger rather quickly. The waiting time from “Confessions on a Dance Floor” to “Hard Candy” was of three years, and the latter to “MDNA” was four years, and today it all points out the Queen of Pop will be releasing a new album this year! And that would mean that…(taking off the ‘MDNA’ touring period), that Madonna only had one full year to record this?

Today, Monday, April 21st, we find out the 13th studio album of her career may be already DONE. Her close friends and long time collaborators, fashion photographers Mert and Marcus (who work together as duo), uploaded, in the early hours of Monday, a photo they had just taken of Madonna in their hotel room on Instagram.

Wow, is Madonna’s new album truly completed? That was fast! Or, perhaps, she only played for them a few new tracks? Mert and Marcus’ Instagram is truly mysterious!

So far, we know Madonna has written and recorded in the studio with; Natalia Kills. MoZella, Symbolyc One, Toby Gad, and Avicii. And we only found out Madonna had began recording her 13th album via an interview with ‘The Global and Mail’ in February.

If the 13th LP is indeed finished, I hope it is good! And not a fiasco like ‘MDNA’ was two years ago. Remember when William Orbit slammed that album a bit?. By the way, do you think she’s planning a summer release, or a Beyoncé-like iTunes release?

In his latest publicity appearance for the exhibition “From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk,” Jean Paul Gaultier sat down with Suzy Menkes at London’s Barbican last night for an on-stage interview. He was greeted by the wild applause from an audience of fans, many of whom were wearing his trademark Breton stripes. Menkes barely needed to ask questions — Gaultier talked at top speed for over an hour with infectious enthusiasm, lapsing regularly into French.

On Madonna: “I was in some ways in love with Madonna. I saw her dancing to Holiday [on TV] and she was dressed very well … It was exactly in my spirit and I said, ‘Oh, she must be English!’ because the look was not at all American. I loved her music — I love that first period of Madonna more than anything else.”